Sisters’ Corner: Dedicating their lives to God

Sister Guadalupe Maria Cervantes, PCI is a member of the Pax Christi Institute.

Mother Teresa Santoyo founded the Pax Christi Sisters on July 19, 1969, in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. The Pax Christi Sisters are a contemplative-apostolic religious institute that serves as an instrument of peace, which leads each member in the pursuit of the attainment of perfect love and oneness with God.

The Pax Christi Sisters dedicate their lives to God by a special consecration. They profess the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience for the sake of the kingdom of God and as visible signs of their unconditional response to the invitation of Christ to “Come, follow me (Mk 10:21).”

As consecrated religious women, community and prayer life are an essential part in the life of each one of the Pax Christi Sisters. The sisters live a shared common harmonious life, the one that is fostered by their daily common works, well-balanced schedule, common prayer, meals and recreation. The Pax Christi Sisters are of one mind and one heart, all dwelling in each through Christ. As a community they draw strength and encouragement from their life in common and by reason of their spirituality of oneness in the Lord—the effecting love mission of our Lord, “That they may all be one (Jn 17:21).”

In addition, the sisters are called to live their lives in a continuous act of prayer. They start their day with morning prayer followed by the office of reading in community, the recitation of the rosary and the celebration of Mass. The celebration of the Holy Eucharist is the heart of the lives of the sisters because it is the rock upon which they build their life and their total commitment to God and the Church. It is in the Eucharist where they encounter God, and Christ comes to them day by day, week by week, year by year with his word, blood and divinity.

The Pax Christi Sisters are grateful to God for this opportunity because they know that the Liturgy does not belong to them individually, but rather belongs to the Church, as a whole, and it is a gift from God for the building of their lives, a rock upon which they can stand. Also, each sister spends one hour during the day adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. In the evening they gather to pray evening prayers and their day is concluded with the reading and meditation of holy Scripture and night prayer.

Additionally, the Sisters gather for days of recollection and annual retreat in order to continue nurturing their spiritual life.

The ministry of the Pax Christi Sisters is to take the Good News of Jesus Christ, our peace, to all mankind, through a dual ministry. Through the spiritual: to lead the people of God to a more profound understanding of the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and to share the Pax Christi spirituality, thus enabling the effecting the salvific love mission of Jesus Christ, our peace, “That they may be one…(Jn 17:11).” Through the apostolic: minister to Jesus Christ in his humanity through the practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

Presently, the Pax Christi Sisters are involved in corporate apostolates, such as parish ministry, religious education, retreats, evangelization, food pantry and religious stores in Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Brenham, Texas, New York and Mexico.

The foundress, Mother Teresa Santoyo, envisioned her convents to be religious homes and not institutions. She accented the practice of the “little virtues” as means of forming the hearts of the sisters. “A Pax Christi member is a prayerful, mature, stable yet flexible virtuous woman. From her, overflows redeeming peace, which is other-centered, gentle, compassionate and forgiving. She is a humble woman of vision who has a listening heart always responsive to the Father’s will; her vision of spreading the good news of peace to all mankind is constantly before her as she—through her life of prayer and service—is a living witness of Jesus Christ our peace.”